Monthly Archives: October 2014

So for the last four months or so, Hub and I have been raising money for our local children’s hospital through a program called Extra Life. It’s a group that is primarily made up of gamers (computer, console, tabletop, etc) who come together every year for the last five years (this is year six) to raise money for children’s hospitals in memory of Victoria Enmom. This is the fourth year we’ve participated (we host the 24 hour marathon for our team here at our house) and the first year I’m raising money for the team. Usually I just cook and clean and facilitate, but because of all the crocheting I’ve been doing with my mother, I’ve used that as a way to raise money for our team.

From Extra Life’s website:

Extra Life began in 2008 as a way of honoring a young lady named Victoria Enmon. Tori’s battle against acute lymphoblastic leukemia inspired the Sarcastic Gamer Community in a way that is difficult to describe. Members sent in video games and bought gifts to keep Tori’s spirits up despite numerous hospital stays and three bouts with the deadly disease.

Tragically, we lost Tori to cancer in January 2008. Later that year, I asked my partners at Sarcastic Gamer if they would be interested in Extra Life, a 24-hour video game marathon to raise money for the hospital that treated and fought beside Tori. In 2008 and 2009 Extra Life raised a combined $302,000, 100 percent of which went directly to help kids like Tori at my local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital (Texas Children’s Hospital).

While thousands of gamers, more than 100 websites and more than 12,000 donors were happy to support Extra Life, many expressed their desire to raise money to help kids closer to home. In what I can only consider destiny, in 2009 I left behind my radio career and went to work full-time for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals as a Radiothon Director. This life-changing event gave me unique insight into an incredible non-profit organization that helps kids all over the United States and Canada.

I quickly realized that Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals would be the perfect solution to expand Extra Life into more communities.

This year, when you sign up to play games for 24 hours this year, you won’t just be raising money for kids. You’ll be supporting LOCAL kids and their families. Kids right in your own backyard.

All the money you raise for Extra Life 2014 will go directly to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital of your choice.

Do you want to have more fun than you can handle while helping some of the bravest (and smallest) warriors in your community? All you have to do is:

Register and create your personal fundraising page.
Try to get four friends or family members to sponsor you at $1 per hour ($24 each).
Sit on your rear end and play all types of games for 24 hours. We will be putting in our game play on Saturday, October 25th, beginning at 8 a.m.

Do you want to join in? Go to http://www.extra-life.org/register and sign up to join us for this amazing event. You can pick your local Children’s Miracle Network hospital (or one that is meaningful to you) so that you can support the local kids and families. You can play ANY kind of games… video, board games, sports games… and you can stretch out your “marathon” over several days or weekends if you need to. You can find more information on the FAQs page.

If you don’t want to sign up or can’t sign up this year, I’d love to have you consider donating to our team. Please contact me and I’ll send you a link to the donation form. It’s tax deductible, easy, and safe to donate. All the money you give goes directly to the hospitals…everyone in Extra Life is a volunteer.

I haven’t been blogging. I haven’t wanted to, so I’ve let myself not do it. I suspect part of the reason I don’t want to blog is because the things I’m dealing with are important, but I don’t want to deal with them. How boring of me, yes?

On a completely different note, tomorrow is my mother’s last chemo infusion. And I am sick.

Saturday night/Sunday morning, Hub started feeling sick. That quickly blossomed into a full-on cold, with sore throat, coughing, sneezing, stuffiness, snot, etc. I kept away from him, washed my hands so much they’re cracking and bleeding. I didn’t let him touch any of my plates or cups and I didn’t touch his unless it was with a paper towel…and then I washed immediately so I wouldn’t accidentally touch my face. I wiped the iPad with an alcohol cleaning cloth before using it. I put paper towels in the master bathroom so we didn’t share a hand towel. We didn’t touch or kiss or hug. Only in bed was I even near him.

Last night, the scratchy throat started. I began my homeopathic remedy for symptom control, but I know full well that is ONLY symptom control and not cure. This morning, after absolutely no sleep, my throat is still sore but I’m hopeful it won’t be as bad as Hub’s sore throat which lasted more than a day. Of all the parts of a cold, the sore throat is the worst for me because I had a bad experience (more than one, actually) that landed me in the hospital with dehydration, mono, and strep throat all at the same time. So I try to mitigate the sore throat immediately by gargling with a mix of honey, water, and apple cider vinegar. It usually works, but that mo-fo burns. Presently, I’m trying to burn the remainder of the soreness off with hot tea. Then I’ll go back to gargling. It’s delightful.

The bigger issue…Mom’s infusion tomorrow. Her last. I can’t go. I can’t be selfish and risk getting anyone there sick, and I can’t risk getting the fabulous nurses sick. I am so upset by this that I pretty much cried when I told my mother that I was sick. She rushed to reassure me, but no matter what she says, I’m upset that I can’t be with her. I’m disappointed, because I’ve been with her for 4 of the 5 infusions. I’ve gotten to know the nurses, I wanted to see them all again. I wanted to sit with my mother as the last rush of poison is given to her. I wanted to celebrate with her and the nurses. I wanted to keep her company and make her laugh and make her smile and talk about stuff. Instead, I’m sick. And she will have to find things to keep her occupied for six hours. Yes, my Dad will be with her, but he’s a smoker and he has to go leave to smoke (and get her lunch), so there will be times she’ll be alone in that stupid infusion center. It sucks.

I’m still expecting to go meet her after the infusion is over. The hospital has a bell in the outdoor courtyard that patients get to ring after their last infusion. I’ll put on a mask, stand at the other end of the courtyard, and video her ringing the bell. And we’ll be in separate cars, so hopefully no chance of her catching my cold. I’m not going to miss that moment.

PS for those keeping track, I’ve moved on to a disgusting concoction of minced garlic and powdered chicken broth, with hot water poured over it. Sort of like a soup. Did I mention disgusting? But supposedly the garlic is good for fighting infection and boosting the immune system. Yum.